Elements of a Score; Philip Arranging

Stevie Wonder- Sir Duke

a) G#M(G sharp Major) is the second chord in Sir Duke to play this chord you have to play G#, B and D# together.

b) Bar 14, there is a minum and a quaver both pitched at G# with a slup on top; this makes the performer play the notes together more smoothly. Which means holding the note for 2 1/2 beats.

c) The notation on Bar 21 means 'No Chord' so that means you play what is written and do not improvise over chords because there are no chords to improvise over.

D) The notation on Bar 28 of 'D.C al Coda' which means 'Go back to the beginning' in Italian, it basically means repeat from the beginning to an indicated place and then play the tail.

E) The mark 'X3' at the end of bar 32, this means to the player to repeat everything between the colons. 'X3' also means to repeat every 3 times over.

F) On Bar 37 shows a breath after the first crotchet of the bar. even though after a crotchet it is a semi quaver rest this means that the breath should be held for only a quarter beat as the score is in 4/4.

Is She Not Passing Fair?

A) The tempo marking on the first bar of the score 'Allegro Molto' means the scores tempo should be very quick and played brightly .

B) The 'brace' and the 'bracket' on bar 5 connects two staves to each other. This is done to show the player that they have to play both staves by themselves simultaneously. A brace connects a treble clef to a bass clef, whilst a bracket connects single staves of multiple instruments together.

C) The notation saying 'Dim' on bar 9 is short for diminuendo which means to gradually decrease in volume.

D) The notation 'Ped' on bar 22 means to press the pedal on the extreme right so it sustains the note.

E)The notation 'Colla Parte' on bar 33 means to tell the player to follow the rhythm and tempo of the soloist or vocal.

F) It says 'a tempo' on bar 44 this means to tell the player to return to the original tempo that was stated at the beginning of the score

Censorship In the Middle East

Censorship in the middle east

Music and society have always been intimately related. Music reflects and creates social conditions which could be controversial or an impede social change. Even the development of recording techniques in the latter half of the 20th century has revolutionized the extend to which the majority of people have access to music besides the Middle East. It is very easy for someone like myself in the UK to access the internet and listen to all kinds of music, 24 hours a day, at the touch of a switch. This is all refers to Globalization which is able to exchange world-wide cultural resources around the world and includes advances in transportation and telecommunications.

The Middle East are not yet globalized and the government intend on keeping it like that. They are also not technologically advanced as the rest of the world. The government has censored the internet which simply means they have limited the internet access. This is very unfortunate to the musicians in the Middle east countries who have a huge passion for music and want to seek different music as there is no access to the latest music, news and trends. Even watching a music video on the internet is very difficult and the downloading speed is poor. 
But why do the Middle East countries have censorship laws? Is it simply for the fact that they are afraid of musical expression? and therefore oppresses it. The government also fear they will loose control and power of their people so by limiting the internet they are not able to stand up to the government or protest as its very difficult to communicate because things are usually handled my social websites. Some of this is also due to religious beliefs 'religious/social/cultural censorship'. A decade ago many artist were threatened and sometimes killed by extremist religious forces. A lot of threatening is still happening in the Middle East now-a-days mainly through the Taliban and the Iranian state. Furthermore, censorship by the Islamic government prevents Islamic citizens from finding out or learning about the past current failures and abuses of the government that could start up a protest or riot against them. Many users saw the Internet as an easy way to get around Iran's strict press laws. 

Musical instruments and computers for music soft wares had to smuggled in to the country. Citizens had to use these equipment in sound-proofed rehearsals rooms at certain hours of the day. The government also banned use if instruments in the country which caused an underground music scene to be formed, this is where artist hosted there own illegal gigs and sold tickets on the black market. Even though this was risky and dangerous the Iranian citizens did pay a lot of money to purchase instruments and musical soft wares. With technology becoming a neccesity to create music, the people in Iran would find it extremely different to keep up to date with the new programmes and soft wares.

Most musicians from Iran tried to escape to somewhere where music was not banned. The band 'Take It Easy Hospital' had to find refuge in the UK after being caught by the police for creating music. Going back to there had there lives at danger especially when there film 'No one knows about the Persian Cats' was played at the Cannes festival. The film represented the country in a negative light so the idea of going back to Iran was IMPOSSIBLE.

Even though censoring music shouldn't be allowed it did help them develop their cultural sides and help them appreciate music more. Whilst us  people in the UK do not understand the worth of having music there at your disposal as we are saturated in it. Music now being very easy to access and also very cheap it is hard to think of a life where music could be censored. Politics is definitely one of the main reasons for the underexposure of music in the middle east. The education curriculum makes sure music lessons are very limited, they insist on the classical/cultural route so the children do not habe a creative mind to try anything different, they do not have the chance to explore the different genres and styles that music has to offer.

The idea of censoring music in Iran doesnt not allow citizens to develop their own beliefs and thoughts, it is basically controlling people. This defintely should be stopped and given the light it needs to show people the different ways people are living due to dictatorship.


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